Category: Events and Conferences

Preparing the Class of 2030: Reflections and next steps from FOLAT 2026

By Dr Anne Burke-Gaffney, Co-Director Bioscience Futures MSc (National Heart and Lung Institute)

Summary of the conference

This year’s Festival of Learning and Teaching (FOLAT) 2026 centred on future-focused education and Imperial’s vision for supporting the Class of 2030 through integrated disciplinary excellence, interdisciplinary learning and entrepreneurship. The festival brought colleagues together to reflect on a disarmingly simple but far-reaching question: how must higher education change to prepare this next generation of graduates?

Across the conference, conversations moved beyond what students should know to who they need to become in order to thrive in an uncertain, complex and rapidly changing world. What stood out was a shared recognition that universities have a responsibility not only to deliver technical excellence, but also to support students’ agency, values and confidence as they navigate multiple possible futures. Learning and teaching were framed as extending far beyond the classroom, shaping graduates’ identities, aspirations and capacity to contribute meaningfully to society, the economy and global challenges. (more…)

Learning through failure: Professor Manu Kapur on turning setbacks into success

How can we design learning experiences that make failure not a setback, but a catalyst for deeper understanding? That was the central question at a recent event hosted by Imperial’s Educational Development Unit where Professor Manu Kapur shared his research on productive failure — and challenged the Imperial audience to rethink what it means to learn well. (more…)

Sustainability in higher education: Reflections from Festival of Learning and Teaching 2025

A growing community of practice

Each year, as the Imperial Festival of Learning and Teaching (FOLAT) grows, we welcome more colleagues from across faculties to come together, connect, and share their experiences. The Festival serves as a vibrant meeting point—where educational practice, innovation, and community spirit come together to shape the future of learning and teaching at Imperial. (more…)

SRHE International Conference 2024 – Higher Education: A place for Activism and Resistance?

In December 2024, the Society for Research in Higher Education (SRHE) ran its annual international conference bringing together higher education (HE) researchers and scholars from all around the world. For a while, I have known SRHE to be a longstanding learned society concerned with all matters HE, and one that has been consistently promoting methodological rigour of HE scholarship and research, and the advancement of knowledge on the sector from a worldwide perspective. The 2024 iteration of their annual conference however, was my first experience of coming together with delegates from all over the world to discuss topical, and at times contentious topics currently at the HE thematology forefront. (more…)

Perspectives in Education – July 2024

By Dr Camille Kandiko Howson, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship

On 25th July 2024, Imperial’s Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship hosted a joint Perspectives in Education lecture and a book launch. Belonging and Identity in STEM Higher Education (UCL Press) was edited by Professors Camille Kandiko Howson and Martyn Kingsbury. The book features contributions from several Imperial staff as well as from scholars around the world.

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Bringing Together Imperial’s Social Scientists: A Flagship PhD and ECR Event

 

By Lauren Shields, PhD Student in the Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship

On Monday 10th June 2024, over 20 PhD and Early Career Researchers from across all four Imperial faculties met in a first-of-its-kind networking event. As a PhD social scientist in a STEMMB institution, it can be hard to find other researchers conducting similar research to you. We are often either isolated in departments or are lacking targeted training or collaboration sessions with others in the same institution. I wanted to host an event that would bring these researchers together, to form connections and learn from each other, as well as celebrate the hugely important offerings that social science can bring to physical science. (more…)

An Evening of Thought-provoking Educational Research: Catch up on Imperial’s MEd ULT Presentation and Prize-giving Event

We are excited to share the highlights of our inspiring and enjoyable, presentation and prize-giving event where we showcased the outstanding work of our students and celebrated their academic achievements. For those who missed the event or wish to relive the moment, we’re pleased to announce that the recording is available on Panopto. 

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Reflections on ISA World Congress of Sociology 2023

By Julianne Viola and Luke McCrone, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship

Julianne Viola and Luke McCrone remotely attended the International Sociological Association (ISA) World Congress of Sociology held on 25th June – 1st July 2023. The conference theme centred on ‘Resurgent Authoritarianism: The Sociology of New Entanglements of Religions, Politics, and Economies’.

The conference focussed on how sociologists worldwide contribute to the understanding of resurgent authoritarianism (a shift away from democratic principles, such as individual rights and freedom of expression, toward centralised power) and engage (physically and critically) in the formidable social movements we are witnessing today in different parts of the world. We presented on our work on the Belonging, Engagement, and Community (BEC) and Imperial Bursary projects.

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Active emotions, active engagement: Interactive presentation for the Global Festival of Active Learning, 26th April 2023

By Nikki Boyd and Kate Ippolito, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship

We were delighted to facilitate a one-hour interactive, online presentation entitled ‘Active emotions, active engagement’ for the 3rd Festival of Active Learning: hosted by The Active Learning Network and held from 23rd-27th April 2023. The ALN represents “a group of people from around the world who share an interest in active approaches to learning” and the annual (now ‘Global’) Festival of Active Learning provides an opportunity for those within and beyond the network to share and celebrate ideas and research relevant to active approaches to learning.

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